Ezekiel 4:15

15 "All right," he said. "I'll let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human dung."

Ezekiel 4:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 4:15

Then he said to me
The Lord hearkened to the prophet's prayer and argument, and makes some abatement and alteration in the charge he gave him: lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung:
that is, allowed him to make use of the one instead of the other, in baking his mingled bread: thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith;
having gathered cow's dung, and dried it, he was to burn it, and bake his bread with it, which is meant by preparing it. In some parts of our nation, where fuel is scarce, cow's dung is made use of; it is gathered and plastered on the walls of houses, and, being dried in clots, is taken and burnt.

Ezekiel 4:15 In-Context

13 God said, "This is what the people of Israel are going to do: Among the pagan nations where I will drive them, they will eat foods that are strictly taboo to a holy people."

14 I said, "God, my Master! Never! I've never contaminated myself with food like that. Since my youth I've never eaten anything forbidden by law, nothing found dead or violated by wild animals. I've never taken a single bite of forbidden food."

15 "All right," he said. "I'll let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human dung."

16 Then he said to me, "Son of man, I'm going to cut off all food from Jerusalem. The people will live on starvation rations, worrying where the next meal's coming from, scrounging for the next drink of water.

17 Famine conditions. People will look at one another, see nothing but skin and bones, and shake their heads. This is what sin does."